More unemployment coming up

Every year, Philippine schools churn out hundreds of thousands of graduates who more often than not find their euphoria turning to despair upon realizing they have also become part of the statistics comprising the unemployed sector. According to available data, an estimated 700,000 will get their college diplomas this March – joining some 564,000 more college graduates who are still looking for a job. The fact is, more and more Filipinos are finding it so difficult to find employment in their own country, and it’s not unlikely that many of these young people will set their sights outside the Philippines and join the ranks of overseas Filipino workers especially since a highly-skilled welder can reportedly earn more than $5,000 a month – which is more than what most office workers can earn in a year.

However, even OFWs are facing the prospect of unemployment due to the continued financial crisis in a number of European countries and the unrest in the Middle East. Just a few days ago, dozens of OFWs were repatriated from Syria as crisis alert level 4 was raised because of the growing violence in the Arab nation. We were told, however, that a lot of Filipinos are choosing to stay put in their host countries despite the danger since they also face the prospect of unemployment back here.

According to some businessmen, one of the problems regarding unemployment in this country also stems from the mismatch between available jobs and the educational qualifications, not to mention the skills, of prospective new hires. Take for instance the glut in terms of nursing, hotel and restaurant management and other white-collar courses which result in an “oversupply” of those who cannot take on the available jobs suited for engineering, science, information technology and vocational-technology graduates.

There are suggestions for the government to review existing school curriculums to make course offerings more suitable to global and even local requirements, aside from the fact that the Department of Education should be more strict in monitoring substandard educational institutions or the so-called “diploma mills” and if need be, suspend – if not revoke their licenses.

Just recently, the Department of Labor and Employment, the DepEd and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) identified 10 priority sectors and came up with a program to address the growing mismatch between industry requirements and job seekers ion the country. A big part of the plan will hinge on the K+12 program of the DepEd (which is being implemented this June) wherein the basic curriculum will incorporate technical and vocational training and education. Plans are also being made to align with business organizations as well as foreign chambers of commerce to give a chance to K+12 grads for employment.

Several sectors have hailed the K+12 program and are gratified to see the government wiling to invest more in the area of education. But sadly, the economy is not expanding fast enough to cope with the population. The Department of Education has one of the highest annual budgets but unfortunately most of our graduates more often than not end up working abroad.

Painting the town blue

Calcutta’s officials recently issued orders to have all buildings, taxis, parks, flyovers and other structures – both public and private – painted sky blue ostensibly to suit the new government motto of “The sky is the limit.” However, local businessmen have reached the limit of their patience and are protesting the decree since they are being made to shell out the expenses for the new “color coding scheme” of the West Bengal minister, Mamata Banerjee, whose favorite color just happens to be – you guessed it – blue. 

Naturally, the political opposition has also voiced its criticism of the makeover plans, saying the new government is preoccupying itself with “non-essential issues.” Local Indian media were more scathing and sarcastic, describing the color change as a “crucial first step in making a city safer, healthier, cleaner” and in sorting out “core problems” such as pollution, garbage disposal, killer buses, a decaying airport and others. While this plan to paint the town blue will probably work in Calcutta (the capital city of the West Bengal state), we doubt if the same could be said here in Metro Manila (despite the fact that some of the “core problems” in the Indian city sound so much like the ones we have here). Besides, intense rivalry between the Greens and the Blues may never allow something like this to happen.

No end to word war 3

Speaking of blue, an Ateneo alumnus is trying to broker a “truce” between President Noynoy Aquino and Chief Justice Renato Corona, both of whom are known to be blue blooded Ateneans. From all indications, the word war between P-Noy and CJ Corona is not about to end, to the great dismay not only of Ateneo alumni but also other Filipinos who feel the two gentlemen should just tone down and let the impeachment trial take its natural course. P-Noy has already said he will not be “gagged” while Corona is not about to lie low and take things sitting down being the Batangueño that he is. The concerned alumnus wrote to us and said he is still confident that a way could be found to make the combatants take the high road and find a graceful end to the escalating word war.

Spy tidbit

– We were informed that US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas who was in Bacolod for the city’s 3rd Jazz Festival had a medical emergency and had to be flown Saturday night by air ambulance to St. Luke’s hospital at the Global City after suffering from a spontaneous hematoma in his calf. Sources from St. Luke’s hospital informed Spy Bits that Ambassador Thomas is recovering well and is expected to be up and about by the end of this week after an angioplasty procedure.

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